Talking Tobaccohttp://www.talkingtobacco.com
a tobacco blog by the staff of PipesandCigars.comMon, 14 Dec 2015 16:21:48 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.14Sherlock Holmes as a Pipe Smoker – Book Reviewhttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/12/sherlock-holmes-as-a-pipe-smoker-book-review/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/12/sherlock-holmes-as-a-pipe-smoker-book-review/#respondMon, 14 Dec 2015 16:21:48 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4090I was recently sent a copy of a new book, Sherlock Holmes as a Pipe Smoker, by its author Dr. Thomas Gwinner. Since Sherlockiana is one of my hobbies, I was intrigued by the subject as much has been made about the references to pipes, tobaccos, cigars and cigarettes in the Canon. What made this especially interesting is that it only assesses the mentions where they apply to Holmes himself, and his pipes and tobaccos.

I always remember the pipes that appeared in the 56 short stories and four novels – a clay, a cherrywood and a briar. Dr. Gwinner launched into a much more detailed analysis, though, using information from the illustrations to help round out his findings. Some of the notes are quite thought-provoking, such as: is the cherrywood actually a pipe made of cherry, or does it refer to the shape, which is similar to a poker with a slanted bottom, and usually with a bit of a bend in the stem? Although the thought had occurred to me in the past, this is the first time I remember anyone remarking on the idea. He also goes into detail about the controversy over the gourd calabash as it relates to Holmes. His conclusions don’t exactly clear up the mystery as it relates to the identification of the gourd calabash, but it is thought-provoking, and that’s part of the fun of being a Holmesian.

Just as scholarly is his approach to Holmes’ tobaccos. We all know about the black shag that Holmes smoked, and his (disgusting) habit of drying his dottle for resmoking at a later point, but Dr. Gwinner did quite a bit of research to try to pinpoint where Holmes must have gotten his tobacco. I was really fascinated by the combination of facts and conjecture that became distilled into his conclusions.

The book is remarkably illustration-heavy, with many coming from the original artwork of Sidney Paget and Frederic Dorr Steele, among others. It is also replete with charts to help clarify the information, and the bibliography alone gives some insight to the amount of research that went into this tome. He even went as far as to catalog the individual lines from the stories that he used as the basis for his work. If you’re a fan of all things Holmes, this is one book you should definitely add to your collection. You can acquire a copy by going to www.mxpublishing.com.

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/12/sherlock-holmes-as-a-pipe-smoker-book-review/feed/0A Daunting Propositionhttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/11/a-daunting-proposition/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/11/a-daunting-proposition/#commentsTue, 17 Nov 2015 22:15:32 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4084I’ve put together a number of “tribute” blends. One of the first Hearth & Home Signature Series tobaccos, Old Tartan, was an homage to what my father used to smoke. I did a number of these kinds of blends, including BlackHouse, WhiteKnight and Fusilier’s Ration. I may have opened myself up to criticism as people compared them to their memories of the original, but they weren’t intended to be exactly like the originals, they were meant to evoke memories of them. But then I was offered the opportunity to work on a project that, frankly, scared the hell out of me…

Dan Z. Johnson and Simon Thurlaw, who are kindred spirits, had lunch and a modicum of warm sake one day and were talking about old tobacco brands, and they wondered if any of those old trademarks were lying dead. So the two of them, along with Simon’s associate, Roger Fidler, set out to see if any classic brands had been abandoned. They determined that the John Cotton’s name, and an old Irish brand, War Horse, were there for the taking. They filed for the trademarks and waited. Dan and I happen, by sheer coincidence, to belong to the same pipe club, so at one of our meetings, Dan broached the subject by asking me if I’d be willing to take a crack at recreating the old blends. I had fond memories of No. 1, Nos. 1 & 2 and Smyrna, and while I try to avoid self-promotion, one thing that I possess is a very strong palate memory. But this was an entirely different kettle of fish as compared to my “tributes”. I had to get them so close that they would be able to bear the original names. I hadn’t ever tried War Horse, however, but fortunately, Dan and Simon has sent a sample to an Israeli laboratory that did work for the Mossad to have it analyzed, so I had a strong basis to work from. When I accepted the challenge, they asked me if there was any other trademark that I might be interested in, and I immediately said “Bengal Slices”. They checked into it and that marque was available as well. I began my research by getting my hands on vintage samples of the Cotton’s blends to use as a way of triggering my memory of how they used to taste, and then I got my hands on whatever blending notes were out there. In the meantime, we waited to see if the trademarks would be approved.

Of course, there’s a lot more to a project like this. As I got closer to where I wanted the blends to be, we had to think about labels for the tins. Bengal Slices was the low-hanging fruit. The art was so iconic, it was just a matter of resizing it to fit the round tin. Since the initial version of War Horse that we’re going to release is the ready cut, we started from scratch with that label. We’re planning a plug version, called War Horse Bar, in the near future, and we might try for a more fragrant iteration as well. The labels for John Cotton’s was a different matter. There were so many changes made over the years that we had to decide which era to focus on.

When I had the blends fairly well finalized, we began sampling them to people, and the reception was very positive, but many of the people who had tried them had never had the originals, so when Dan told me that he was going to bring them to the Christopher Morley Club meeting in Philadelphia, I began to get a little nervous. I became even more fidgety when I found out that William Serad would be trying them. William wrote the Trial by Fire tobacco reviews for Pipes & Tobaccos Magazine for a number of years, so I wondered what the reception would be.

The next month, I went to their meeting myself, and had the chance to talk to Mr. Serad, he told me that John Cotton’s Smyrna was the most faithful reproduction of an old blend that he has ever tried, and that’s especially impactful, since that was one of his favorites back in the day.

Now we’re coming up on the release of all these blends. We’re taking pre-orders on John Cotton’s tobaccos (as of 11/15/15), with deliveries starting around 12/1, and we’ll be taking pre-orders for Bengal Slices and War Horse Ready Cut effective 12/15/15, targeting 1/1/16 for release.

It hasn’t always been a smooth road, and it’s still a daunting proposition, but we’re all really excited to see what’s next.

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/11/a-daunting-proposition/feed/2An In-Depth Look at Periquehttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/10/an-in-depth-look-at-perique/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/10/an-in-depth-look-at-perique/#commentsTue, 06 Oct 2015 21:39:49 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4075As some of you may know, I’ve been involved in blending tobacco for nearly 40 years, and I can remember to this day the first time I opened a package of Perique and smelled it. The deep, dark, fruity aroma hit me like a ton of bricks, and I salivated from the intensity of it. I began to play around with it as a component and was mystified by its chameleon-like character. In some blends it would be rich and sweet, while in others, a peppery side showed itself. Over the years, I’ve used it in combination with virtually every other component imaginable. I’ve even used it as part of aromatic blends. I learned about the tobacco with dribs and drabs of information here and there, but it wasn’t until I struck up a friendship with Mark Ryan, who owns L.A. Poche Perique Company, in St. James Parish, Louisiana, that I finally got the whole picture. We had been planning to have me take a trip to his facility for a number of years, and it finally happened this past week while I attended the New Orleans Pipe Show. So, what you’ll get from this point on is about Perique, and I’ll take the time to dispel some inaccuracies and rumors along the way.

What is Perique? Perique is an offshoot of Burley that has become unique by being grown in an area of St. James Parish called the “Golden Triangle”. Of course, since you can literally throw a rock from some of the fields into the Mississippi, this is Delta soil, so it’s very rich and also very moist. The plants are started in a greenhouse in late winter and ready to transplant in the spring. The singular soil and climate cause it to become something quite different than regular Burley, and is ideal for the processing that lies ahead. The leaves are dried after harvesting, and are air-cured. The main stem, or rib, has to be removed to maintain quality. Just before the actual Perique processing begins, the tobacco is rehumidified, but it can’t be done too far in advance or it can become moldy very quickly.

The leaves are bunched together and packed into large whiskey barrels. A plate is placed on top of the packed barrel, which is then positioned under a massive beam. A railroad jack is used to compress the tobacco for a short time, after which a jackscrew takes its place and pressure is reapplied. The tobacco is compressed, and the juices are pushed out of the leaf. With this kind of pressure comes a natural increase in temperature, which causes the juices to ferment. During active fermentation, carbon dioxide bubbles are visible at the top of the barrel. Skilled laborers monitor the barrels to see when the tobacco needs to be turned. The barrel is emptied, the bunches are repositioned and pressure is applied again. This is repeated based upon the condition as it’s checked. Some barrels will only need a couple of fermentations, while others may need more, but in all, it usually takes about a year to complete the process.

Because of the environment, Perique is a fairly fragile crop. Diseases, pests, heavy rain or drought can wipe out an entire year’s crop, and can do so very quickly. So, many decades ago, some of the farmers began hedging their bet by buying high-grade dark air-cured tobacco from other regions and processing it in the same manner as Perique. This would then be combined with the real thing to extend the available Perique. This tobacco is referred to as Acadian Perique, versus St. James Perique, which is only made of the actual leaf grown in the region. Due to the high cost, and the very good quality of the Acadian Perique, virtually no one uses straight St. James for blending anymore.

About ten years or so ago, L.A. Poche tried a very interesting experiment by bringing in dark-fired Kentucky and processing it in the same manner as Perique, creating a new blending component which is now known as Acadian Black. This has some of the deep sweetness of Perique, along with nice spice, but it also has a smoky element that makes it completely different.

Despite Perique’s reputation for strength, it really isn’t all that high in nicotine. What causes people to feel the effects more strongly is that the other elements allow the body to absorb the nicotine more effectively.

Because Perique is naturally moist, it tends to burn quite slowly, which makes it a perfect partner for Virginias, which can tend to burn hot and fast. That’s also why it has to be used carefully in Latakia blends. They tend to burn slowly to begin with, and the addition of too much Perique could cause the need for relights.

I thought that there was only one Perique farmer left. The origin of this inaccuracy is hard to pinpoint. About 15 years ago, the number of farmers has dwindled, and Percy Martin was one of just a few farmers growing Perique. But his output was committed to Santa Fe for use in American Spirit cigarettes. The other farmers delivered their crops to L.A. Poche, and it was that company that supplied the pipe tobacco companies. When Mark Ryan bought the business from the Poche family, he only had three farmers growing about 11 acres. By increasing the price paid to the farmers and saving the farmers from having to de-stem their own leaf, more farmers became interested in growing the tobacco. This year, there are well over 100 acres being grown. Interestingly, there are different areas of the triangle where Perique is grown, and I’ve had the opportunity to inspect these different types of St. James Perique. Mark has graciously given me the chance to try developing some blends with these unique varietals, and the results will be coming out next year.

Isn’t the stuff made with the air-cured tobacco “faux-Perique”? What very few people are aware of is that almost no straight St. James Perique has been sold for more than 40 years. The processors learned decades ago that it was necessary to blend the tobaccos together to be able to meet demand, and to maintain a product that would be of consistently high quality from one year to the next. The term “faux-Perique” applies to tobaccos that have had a flavoring added to tobacco to simulate Perique, but it definitely doesn’t taste the same, and isn’t processed using the same method. The air-cured leaf used by L.A. Poche is handled exactly the same as the St. James leaf, so the result is very hard to differentiate from the original. Experts have been unable to tell the difference between them.

I had heard that Perique was all but dead. That was nearly the case until Mark Ryan bought L.A. Poche and instituted changes to make Perique more viable, including the construction of two greenhouses to allow the farmers to start their plants a little earlier, so the seedlings would be hardier when transplanted. By taking over the de-stemming from the farmers, it allowed them to concentrate on what they do best – growing and harvesting the tobacco. Five years ago, Mark built a processing building that was four times the size of the previous one, allowing for much more capacity. As is evidenced by some of the pictures attached, you can see that there’s a lot of Perique being processed and available to manufacturers.

What does the future look like? L.A. Poche is turning out a lot more and better quality Perique than in the past, so tobacco blenders shouldn’t have any problem keeping up with the growing demand for mixtures containing the heavily-fermented leaf. In addition, Mark is an innovator, as is evidenced by the development of Acadian Black (which will be part of a new product line by a major cigar company in the future). He will be experimenting with another potential component, which is in the early planning stages, but may produce a completely unique tobacco with unlimited potential. I’ll be keeping in contact with Mark to follow the progress of this experiment, as it could potentially be a game-changer. One thing is for sure, this treasure of the tobacco world is in good hands.

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/10/an-in-depth-look-at-perique/feed/11Pipe Academy – A Thorough Cleaninghttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/pipe-academy-a-thorough-cleaning/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/pipe-academy-a-thorough-cleaning/#commentsMon, 17 Aug 2015 19:29:33 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4070A customer wrote and asked me to write about pipe cleaning basics. I’ve written recently about what you shouldn’t attempt, now let’s look at an everyday cleaning. For the sake of covering all our bases, we’re going to approach this as if you found one of your grandfather’s old pipes which had been heavily smoked and want to bring it back to something close to new condition.

The pipe probably has a pretty thick cake built up, so you’re going to need to ream it. If you have a decent reamer, this won’t be a very difficult job as long as you follow one important rule – go lightly. You want to shave off a little bit at a time. You’ll know if you’re doing it right is the result is a fine powder. If you’re getting pieces the size of a grain of sand, you’re either removing too much at once, or the smoker enjoyed goopy aromatics, which can cause the cake to be soft and crumbly. Cut the cake back until it’s about the thickness of a dime, unless the tobacco used to form the cake has a strong or offensive odor. If that’s the case, cut it back close to the chamber wall and remove the last bit using a piece of fine sandpaper wrapped around your finger.

You may need to take it a step further if there’s a lingering odor in the chamber. Run a pipe cleaner all the way into the chamber and stand the pipe upright. Fill the chamber with table salt and then, using an eyedropper or pipette, drip high-proof alcohol onto the salt until it’s damp all the way through. Allow it to sit for 24-48 hours and dump the salt. Swab out the chamber to move all remaining salt crystals.

I’ll also assume that there’s char on the rim of the bowl. If it’s really thick, I’ll dampen the char with olive oil and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then I’ll use a dull knife to lightly scrape at the char to get it closer to the wood. Then I’ll use more olive oil on a toothbrush to scrub at it. When it’s nearly gone, I’ll finish with oil on a cloth to finish the job. If the char is light to begin with, some saliva on a rag will actually do the job really well.

To clean the airway, get yourself a pipe sweetener, like Decatur Pipe Shield Briar-Fresh. Dip a bristled pipe cleaner in it and feed it from the button, all the way down the drafthole and use an in-and-out motion to scrub. Follow that with a dry regular cleaner. If the cleaner gets gunked up, you’ll want to repeat with the Briar-Fresh. Don’t forget the mortise and tenon. Use a cotton swab and the Briar-Fresh to wipe out the mortise and also the tenon. Don’t get the Briar-Fresh on the outside wood surfaces. It’s alcohol-based and can damage the stain.

Now, on to the stem. If it’s an acrylic stem, all you should need to do is to use a soft cloth to buff it, but if it’s a little beat up, you can use some Decatur Shine-Brite, which is a very fine abrasive polish, which will remove tiny scratches. But if it’s a vulcanite stem, you’ll probably be dealing with the dreaded oxidation. Before you can polish it, the oxidation has to be removed. If it’s not too bad, using Decatur Haze-Away and some elbow grease will probably make the stem black again. Then follow up with Shine-Brite to get the luster back. If the oxidation is really bad, it’s best to send it to a professional, since the best method is to hit it with compound on a buffing wheel. A pro will have slower speed machines to avoid burning the stem.

To polish the wood, a wax is the best thing, but whatever you do, don’t use furniture polish or you’ll be smelling lemons or oranges every time you smoke the pipe for months. If the pipe is really dull, you’ll once again want to send it out for a proper buffing, but if it’s not too bad, try Decatur’s No-Buff Wax, which is the only wax specially formulated for briar pipes. There are other waxes, but they were originally created for museum pieces and can leave a filmy haze and fill in nomenclature. No-Buff Wax is more fluid and creamy, is easier to remove and rub up, and won’t build up on the surface and in the nomenclature. Just wipe it on, let it sit for about ten minutes and polish with a soft cloth. For use after each smoke, just wipe the pipe with the Decatur Polishing Cloth for a quick shine with little effort.

One last thing, for cleaning rusticated and sandblasted finishes, use a very soft toothbrush and your handy-dandy olive oil. Wipe it off with a soft cloth and you’re off to the races.

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/pipe-academy-a-thorough-cleaning/feed/10They’re Some Jolly Good Fellows, Alright!http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/theyre-some-jolly-good-fellows-alright/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/theyre-some-jolly-good-fellows-alright/#commentsThu, 13 Aug 2015 18:21:14 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4065In fourteen hundred ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Like many, I remember that rhyme from my early school days. A time when history came out of a book, and no “Wiki” appeared in its title or text. While it’s nice to have the hyper-linked world at our finger tips, one must wonder just how much salt to take before the flavor is ruined, and we lose faith in all those cooks who may be spoiling the broth (or at least changing the recipe too often).

To begin with, whatever happened to CRISTOBO COLUMBO? That was the name we in-the-know wise guys used. It seems now that Cristoforo Colombo or perhaps Cristóbal Colón or maybe even Cristóvão Colombo was the guy who handled that infamous first bouquet o’ ‘bacco from the god fearing natives of what would soon become our Land of Opportunity. Legend has it we were showered with gifts of fruits and daggers as well. The crew scoffed down the fruit, sharpened their blades, and tossed the odd smelling leaves overboard to rest with the fishes. With a start like that, what followed to lead us on to our modern love of said drowning leaf must have been one Jim Dandy of a rescue.

The next good fella who makes a splash is a far less well known crew member on the voyage. Rodrigo de Jerez, seemingly peeping around a boulder with his lackey, Luis de Torres, spy a ritualistic native ceremony. A cornucopious paper device funnels mysterious vapors through the lips of the celebrants. Soon, clouds of billowing smoke emerge from their mouths to fill the air with a mystically bizarre, yet intoxicating aroma. This apparently was enough for young Rodrigo to take up the habit himself and carry it back with him to the unsuspecting innocents of the Old World. Upon seeing him roaming the streets and docks of Europe with a look of devilish glee and strange evil smoke pouring out his nostrils, the neighbors called the church police. Not expecting a kind of Spanish Inquisition, de Jerez was carted off to the dungeons for the next seven years. When he was finally remanded to the light of day, smoking had become all the rage across the land. He could barely make out the forms of the formerly frightened as they paraded past him, engulfing him in a luxurious cloud of second hand irony.

Another more notable, but equally hapless bon vivant in the saga of the centuries was Sir Walter Raleigh (or “Riley” and some have taken to calling him for reasons unknown). His life was anything but uneventful and leisurely. Aside from his passing interests in tobacco from the Roanoke era, he was imprisoned twice; once for secretly marrying a handmaiden of a certain royal family, and again for plotting the assassination of that queen’s son, who through her death, became king. But good Sir Walter bounced back once again to sail the open seas. Unfortunately, his rowdy crew behaved quite badly in a Spanish port and when he returned to England he was executed in an effort to keep the peace between the two empires. Bad luck, (we hope unrelated to smoking tobacco), but at least he still shows up on pouches and tins.

But lastly, in an effort to raise up the status and emphasize the importance our oft mistreated cash crop, we should consider the case of Patrick Henry. When he wasn’t sitting idly by in the alehouse trying to make up his mind over the menu items, he was defending causes and making speeches like the one that is arguably leading to the root cause of the revolution – and brother, it started with T but it wasn’t tea. As our leaf was a long standing common currency, the Anglican clergy had been paid in tobacco until the late 1750s. The Virginia colony then changed its law to pay them in currency at the fixed rate of 2 cents a pound. It was all good until tobacco began selling for 6 cents a pound, and the lost opportunity for higher pay brought a great protest to King George III, and so he had the new law vetoed. But since the new Virginia Six-Penny law was occasionally adhered to anyway, some clergy sued their parishes. Patrick Henry defended one such instance in court. He berated England’s interference in domestic matters, accusing King George of tyranny for overturning Virginia law, and convinced the jury to award the plaintiff clergymen no more than one penny in damages.

It’s good have a tale of tobacco that doesn’t end in prison, execution, or tyranny. Jolly good job, fellows!

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/theyre-some-jolly-good-fellows-alright/feed/1Some Random Thoughts About Cigarshttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/some-random-thoughts-about-cigars/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/08/some-random-thoughts-about-cigars/#commentsThu, 06 Aug 2015 14:48:39 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4062Since I’m around them all the time, I don’t really think about all the minutiae when it comes to cigars, so last might when I was looking through our catalog, I was struck by some of the things that the public doesn’t know, but might find interesting. Here are my observations:

There were two cigars on the market that called their Lonsdale shape an 8-9-8 – Partagas and Ashton. But in truth, only the Ashton should have been using the name. Why? 8-9-8 is a reference to a Cuban box style in which the sides of the box bow out, so a box of 25 is packed eight cigars on the bottom, nine in the middle row and eight on the top. Ashton’s box has the rounded sides necessary to pack the cigars that way. The Partagas version? Two rows – 13 over 12.

By the way – do you know what that cedar or cardboard block is called when cigars are packed 13 over 12? That, my friends, is called a dead man.

In another piece of creepy terminology, when cigars are boxed individually, the box is called a coffin.

You’ve probably seen pictures of a cigar roller cutting the wrapper leaf with a curved bladed knife. That knife is a chaveta, but it’s not just used for trimming the leaf. Once the cigar is rolled, most torcedors will use the flat side of the knife to roll and smooth the cigar.

The wrapper leaf known as Criollo was first developed in Cuba. Criollo grown from seed from the descendants of the original, but grown elsewhere, are still called Criollo, but that’s kind of confusing if you happen to know that the word means “native”.

There’s a “rule” regarding freshly-rolled cigars. If a roller hands you a cigar right off the table, either smoke it right away, or put it away for awhile. The rule is called 48/48. A cigar that’s just been rolled should be smoked within 48 hours, or allowed to rest for 48 days. Why? When cigar leaf is moist and put under pressure (which happens when a cigar is made), it will begin to ferment. The by-product of that fermentation is ammonia, and I’m sure that, at one time or another, you’ve had a bitter cigar. Most likely you’re tasting ammonia from a stick that was rushed to market. Those cigars are commonly referred to as “green” or “young”, but I like the term we use in the office – “sick”. Why is it okay to smoke the cigar within the first couple of days? Simple, fermentation doesn’t begin right away. The fermentation will continue for about a month and a half, so 48 days is enough time to rest.

In England, it’s considered bad form to leave the band on your cigar. It’s looked upon as bragging. Here, we tend to leave it on until the burn line approaches the band. Me? I leave it on until about halfway so the heat softens the glue and reduces the chance of tearing the wrapper when I remove it.

A new line of cigars was created because the rollers at one factory enjoyed another line too much. The rollers at Drew Estate in Esteli, Nicaragua apparently enjoyed Liga Privada No. 9 so much, that they were smoking too many of them. Some of the tobaccos in the No. 9 series are hard to get, so that presented a problem. They told their rollers to come up with a blend that wasn’t using such rare tobaccos, so they could enjoy them when they wanted. The result was another hit for Drew Estate – Undercrown.

While we’re talking about Drew Estate, here’s another piece of DE trivia. Jonathan Drew wanted to make a cigar called “Uzi”, after the Israeli automatic weapon. When he went to sample the cigar, he was handed a bundle of them and was surprised at how heavy they were. His comment was “My Uzi weighs a ton“, and that became the name of the cigar.

Seconds are usually sold in bundles for a much lower price than the first quality cigars. The standards vary from one factory to another, but a cigar with sun spots, blotchy coloration or a poorly cut wrapper might well wind up as a second, even though the defect won’t affect the flavor or burning characteristics. Another reason to reject a cigar is if the color isn’t close to the other cigars in a batch. But every so often you’ll get a cigar that looks really nice, and you wonder why it was rejected…until you start to smoke it. The flavor is fine, the aroma is nice and it burns well, but it feels like the draw is a little “airy”. What gives? Take a look at the cigar just below the cap. If there’s a fairly large vein at the top of the cigar, it can allow air to get past your lips. When this happens to me, I just position the vein between my lower front teeth and lightly bite down. That usually solves the problem, and I just saved a buck or two.

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/missed-conceptions-entangled-in-questions/feed/1The State of the Union Jackhttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/the-state-of-the-union-jack/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/the-state-of-the-union-jack/#commentsThu, 23 Jul 2015 19:49:08 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4052I was fortunate enough to have vacationed this summer in the United Kingdom. Split between Scotland and England, I managed to commandeer enough time away from the missus to seek out some tobacco shops and observe the general public presence (or lack thereof) of our pipe and cigar smoking counterparts across The Pond. In the span of my twelve day visit I noticed only one pipe smoker, who was conversing with a friend by the Albert Dock in Liverpool. I guess that’s still a better statistic per capita than the one homeland sighting I had in the last six months. (Although I do suspect the latter may have been a cagey subterfuge for consuming other nefarious substances).

I always talk myself into believing that I will certainly find plenty of shops and opportunities to browse through, and purchase lots of interesting pipe tobaccos whenever I travel outside my usual dull circles. Any city of merit, I reason, should have something to offer. And yet, time and time again I am still sadly amazed that many major cities in the western hemisphere have little or nothing to offer in the way of pipe tobacco. Happily, it was not the case this time.

In Liverpool, just a few short blocks from the hotel in the main downtown district, I visited the Alfie Turmeaus shop (part of a three location venture, also in London and Chester). When I walked in, I discovered I was in the Cigarette part of the shop. To enter the Pipe and Cigar part of the store, I had to exit back to the street and go to a separate entrance that was located on the other side of a large unrelated business that separated the two. In a city that bustled with activity at mid-morning, the pipe side door was blocked by the shopkeeper, who was sitting having a cupper for herself. She was obviously pleasantly surprised to have a customer appear.

The hidden nature of tobacco products in Britain these days was quickly evident when I walked into that small storefront. Any and all view of the tobacco itself and it’s packaging is hidden away behind solid white wooden baffles that are only raised long enough to reach in and snatch out one’s request – and then quickly slammed shut like they were trying to keep the flies out. I managed to persuade the store keep to leave the lid up long enough for me to browse. Not a large selection, but an adequate representation of British standards, most of which are still readily available in the States. The notable exception was a conspicuous line of Presbyterian Mixture tins, which I happily snatched up for sharing and caring purposes, along with some Rattray’s flakes for good personal measure. The only briars for sale were in a small basket of … well, basket pipes.

My only other purchasing effort came in Edinburgh. In the heart of the government district was a tobacconist shop sadly devoid of any interesting pipe tobacco, with the exception of some standardly enjoyable Gawith offerings. I asked for St. Bruno, and was advised to try the convenience store right up the street, where I was indeed able to score a pouch of the elusive patron saint.

All in all, I think the most unfortunate aspect of the UK pipe tobacco experience is the ever oppressive presence of epoxy welded warning stickers and gruesome photos of uncontrolled microbial growths, with various catchy phrases reminding us that we are endangering the future of the human species every time we stoke our pipes. All the fine artwork man-hours and hopes of proudly displayed tins of conquest adorning the shelves of consenting adult shoppers is thus effectively reduced to a rubble of shamefully defaced landfill fodder. Even the tin of Celtic Talisman I acquired that I somehow managed to strip clear of it’s cover warning, still remains with an indelible image on it’s reverse of a chalky cadaver on a mortuary slab, with a towel over it’s eyes, eerily emblazoned with the legend of surety that, as smokers, we are headed for an early demise.

My response then? A little photoshopping and glue.

Now I proudly display my own permanent war cry:

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/the-state-of-the-union-jack/feed/1It’s Like Comparing Fast Food to Fine Dininghttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/its-like-comparing-fast-food-to-fine-dining/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/its-like-comparing-fast-food-to-fine-dining/#commentsFri, 17 Jul 2015 19:15:59 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4048Like it or not, all smokers are lumped together into a group, usually for the purpose of casting disdain upon us. This is especially true for the antis who site skewed “junk science” to prove that we’re just behind a monkey with a machine gun in terms of our ability to harm. But there are many reasons why pipe and premium cigar smokers shouldn’t be compared to cigarette users, and that’s the focus of this little post.

- Most pipe and cigar smokers are more moderate in their use of tobacco. If I want to, I can go days, weeks or even months without a smoke. I’ve been in venues for entire days where there’s no place to smoke, and I don’t get twitchy or surly. The main reason is the way that nicotine is absorbed while smoking a pipe or cigar. If you’re not inhaling (and I never do), the nicotine is only absorbed by the mucus membranes of the mouth, which is a very small surface area. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for the nicotine to enter your system this way. Cigarette smokers, who usually do inhale, are exposing the smoke to the alveoli of the lungs, which have a huge surface area, and the nicotine will enter the system very quickly. In fact, it takes less than 10 seconds for nicotine to break the blood/brain barrier. That’s why cigarette smokers experience a “head rush” after that first cigarette in the morning.

- As I mentioned above, most pipe and cigar smokers don’t inhale. That’s because smokers who enjoy premium tobacco products are looking for flavor and aroma more than anything else. Cigarette smokers barely taste their cigarettes, or if they do, it’s only on the first puff or two.

- As proof of the importance of flavor, if a pipe smoker doesn’t care for Latakia, or a cigar smoker doesn’t like maduros, they won’t smoke one, even if there’s nothing else to smoke – they’ll just do without. But if a cigarette smoker is out of their regular brand and want a smoke, they’ll even accept (God forbid!) a menthol light until they can get to a store.

- If a pipe or cigar smoker only has 10 minutes, they won’t try to fit a cigar or a bowl of tobacco into that timeframe. Premium products are meant to be savored, so they’re generally only used when the time permits.

- Regardless of what the anti-smoking zealots say, there’s a major difference in health concerns. Pipe and cigar smokers (again, usually) don’t inhale. That means that the amount of smoke that actually reaches is lungs is miniscule in comparison to a cigarette. I’ve been smoking both pipes and cigars for 40 years and my doctor is amazed at how clear my lungs are, how good my blood pressure is and how low my resting heart rate is. I actually had to inform him of the differences, and although he would prefer that I quit, he now understands that cigarettes are far riskier than cigars and pipes.

- Quality and consistency are not the hallmarks of cigarettes. The companies that make them, with the exception of smaller boutique-type operations, aren’t too concerned about the grade of the leaf or buying from the same farmers. For premium products, quality and consistency is what they hang their hat on. As much as pipe tobacco companies work hard to keep their blends the same year-in and year-out, cigar manufacturers (the good ones, at least) are almost fanatical about quality control.

If you enjoy a handmade cigar or fine pipe blend, you already understand all this, and if you’re like me, it rankles you a bit to be painted with the same broad brush as cigarette smokers, but we know the truth, don’t we?

]]>http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/its-like-comparing-fast-food-to-fine-dining/feed/4A Different Kind of Blendinghttp://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/a-different-kind-of-blending/
http://www.talkingtobacco.com/2015/07/a-different-kind-of-blending/#commentsFri, 10 Jul 2015 19:38:48 +0000http://www.talkingtobacco.com/?p=4043In all, I’ve been a tobacco blender for just shy of forty years now. I’ve done enough different blends over that time that, frankly, it’s becoming harder and harder to figure out how not to repeat myself. Luckily, I have people who let me know about unique components so I can keep things fresh. But there’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time that’s finally going to happen, and I thought I’d let you in on it while we’re still in the development stage.

I’ve written a number of articles for Talking Tobacco about cigars, and I’m personally responsible for putting all the new sticks on PipesandCigars.com, plus I write the copy for the site. So I guess you could say that I’m pretty comfortable around cigars. For the last few years, I’ve been thinking about a cigar for the Hearth & Home line, but other things always seemed to take precedence. So when some samples crossed my (perpetually overcrowded) desk recently from a Nicaraguan boutique manufacturer, I wasn’t thinking about much of anything other than “oh, good, another cigar to try”. I lit it up and was intrigued by the flavor and aroma. It wasn’t quite my cup of tea, but it was very good. I contacted our liaison with the cigar factories to find out about the blend. I found out the name of the factory and got specifics about the tobaccos that went into the cigar. It had a nice Habano wrapper from Ecuador, and that was good to hear because many of my favorites use some form of Habano. The binder came from Condega, and the filler came from Jalapa and Condega, with the ligero hailing from Esteli. On the surface, it seemed like it should be right up my alley, but it came up a bit short.

I mentioned this to one of my co-workers who spends a lot of time developing new cigars, and he told me that this company was very easy to work with and that they would be glad to tweak a blend. Then he asked me if I had a project in mind, and the light went on – this could be the Hearth & Home cigar. I wanted more depth in the cigar, so the first thing we did was to use a binder from higher up on the plant. Then we did a second version with the higher priming binder and we went for filler that was also a bit fuller-bodied. I personally enjoy powerhouse cigars, but that’s not what I was looking for, here. I wanted a cigar with plenty of flavor, but I didn’t want it to be overwhelming. Most importantly, I wanted it to be balanced. It needed to be sweet and spicy in the right proportions, but it had to have depth, too. After trying the samples, I found the right blend. What struck me was that there was a quality to the cigar that reminded me of some Cubans I’ve tried over the years.

We’re in the process of designing the box and bands, and we’re drawing imagery from Havana, specifically the main avenue that runs along the shore. That scenic street has given the cigar its name – Hearth & Home Marquee El Malecòn. With any luck, we’ll have them in stock before the end of the year. It’s something I’ve always wanted to be involved in, and now I can check another dream off the list.